


Frostbite

by occasionalphantomfiction (SemiRetiredAuthor)



Series: Phanniemay 2016 [10]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, Headcanon, Phanniemay, Phanniemay 2016, Phanniemay16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 00:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12570064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SemiRetiredAuthor/pseuds/occasionalphantomfiction
Summary: Ghost powers don’t come without their downsides to the human body, and in Danny’s opinion, some were far worse than others.





	Frostbite

He knew there were side effects to using some of his powers less than a day after the lab accident when his first few ghost rays left his palms burning the same way he remembered from one childhood adventure involving young and unbridled curiosity, questionable adult supervision, and an unfortunately accessible stovetop. Intangibility sometimes resulted in a few uncomfortable seconds of not quite being able to breathe, overshadowing was at times followed by short but intense bouts of dissociation—questioning who he really was and how he got here in one moment and having his normal complete understanding of himself the next—, and prolonged flight might lead to an episode of vertigo in the air or upon landing.

It didn’t happen every time he used his powers. He wouldn’t quite call the side effects rare, but there were times when he could make it through a full battle against another ghost without incident. He’d been able to tell that things were worse when he hadn’t had enough sleep or when he was sick, but from his own experience, he still couldn’t fully predict when he’d regret using his powers and when he’d be perfectly fine afterward.

The outcome wasn’t always the same either. His first ghost ray had been frankly terrifying; the burning sensation had been so bad that he’d been sure the ectoplasm had actually burned him from his palm to his fingertips, and the pain didn’t completely fade away for over an hour after he used the ghost ray. In a way, he’d been lucky that he couldn’t completely control his powers at first because many accidental ghost rays later had taught him to not expect such great pain as the unfortunate first time. Sure, he’d certainly feel the results afterward sometimes, but there’d never been a time that was near as shockingly awful as the first time he’d used the power. After getting used to using the ghost ray, more than half of the uses didn’t result in any pain, and the remaining times usually only brought on a less painful hot tingle in his palm. It was less like the sensation of reaching a hand into a full-on fire and more akin to perhaps holding a hand just a tad too close to a burning candle wick for just a bit too long. Even knowing this progression, he’d decided early on to avoid using his eyes to create ghost rays after feeling the same sensations but magnified by the more sensitive nature of eyes.

Intangibility was a more pleasant power to use because while it might result in the sensation of having too little air to breathe, that had turned out to be a much rarer side effect and was typically over in less than ten seconds. He still tried to avoid using it in fights and other situations in which he couldn’t afford to be incapacitated for any amount of time just to be safe, but after the first few times it had happened to him had forced him to grow used to the new sensation, he wasn’t so worried about that result anymore. It was jarring, no denying that, but it didn’t serve as enough of a deterrent to stop him very often.

Flight was something he’d needed to experiment with. He hadn’t been able to fly far at all when he’d first gotten his powers for fear of falling with the sense of dizziness and slight confusion that came from straining his new abilities. Paying attention to his ability to handle flying had been what had prompted him to notice in the first place that he was growing out of some of the side effects. He couldn’t name an exact distance he could fly without incident now, but he periodically went out flying solely to test his own limits so that he had a loose idea of what he could do in battle.

Barring his first experiences with his powers, cryokinesis had proven to have the least tolerable side effect of all of his powers so far; it had easily become the hardest to mentally prepare for. Even a small ray from just one finger quickly brought on what Danny, Sam, and Tucker had discovered were the symptoms of frostbite. An acute sensation of stop stop stop, this is too cold STOP didn’t last long before the arguably even less comfortable feeling of complete numbness in the finger became apparent. Unlike the usual reactions he had to his powers, the cryokinesis left him in discomfort for hours as his freezing cold skin was slowly rewarmed and healed of all symptoms by his ghost core, leaving him to hide his clumsiness and off-color skin from most of the people around him in the meantime. He could slightly speed up the process by carefully warming his hand from the outside as well, but he’d found the power simply wasn’t worth the results.

In some ways, he could greatly appreciate his own ghost powers. Other parts of having supernatural powers, not so much, but he’d realized long ago that it was simply a matter of maximizing the good and minimizing the bad results of one unexpected lab accident.


End file.
